How To Train Your Dragon

FILMMAKER PROFILE OF THE WEEK:: Interview with Art Director Pierre-Olivier Vincent

INTERVIEWER
Give me your full name and your role on “How to Train Your Dragon”.

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
OK.  My name is Pierre Olivier Vincent.  I usually go by Pierre V. because it’s — it’s a bit simpler.  And I’m the Art Director on the show.

INTERVIEWER
What’s an Art Director in an animated film?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
An art director is supposed to make things look good.  Basically all the backgrounds, all the sets, we are going through those.  And we have to supervise the design, the color.  But we do that of course, you know, very closely with the Production Designer.

INTERVIEWER
And who’s the Production Designer?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
The Production Designer is Cathy Alteri we never worked together before.  I mean we’ve known each other for a long time because we’re in the company for more than twelve years.  But this is our first collaboration on this one.

INTERVIEWER
Tell me how the Art Director and Production Designer collaborate?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENTThe first thing for us is to connect really closely with the directors.  So we’re going try to receive from them a lot of information telling us what they want to see.  How dramatic they want the movie to be, how comedic.  So we’re going try to talk about the design.  And try to make the design support as best as possible for the story.  So it’s all about the story.  Whatever we do, it’s not for free.  We are just here to support the story.  So we need a very close interaction with the directors.

Then we’re going talk together, we’re going to try to establish the style of the movie.  And for that, we can look at paintings, movies, or photos.  Sometimes there are research trips as well.  So we go on location.  Then after that, we have to produce for the company some pieces that will prove to them that there is a potential — a visual potential in the movie.  So that’s pretty much the process we’re going through.

INTERVIEWER
Did you go anywhere interesting?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Well we were planning to go to Iceland.  And, we ended up in Oregon, because, it was in winter.  And they were trying to find some very dramatic, background with the sea.  And at the time in Oregon there is a lot of, black sand — sandy beach.  And it was exactly actually what we are looking for specifically for the Dragon Island.

INTERVIEWER
Tell me about the Dragon Island and how it plays into the story.

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Uh, Dragon Island is a very, very dramatic place.  It’s a volcano; it’s a location, with a lot of lava, tormented rocks.  It’s quite aggressive, and it should be a little bit scary.  But scary in a way that is still a little bit also mysterious, fascinating.  So you’re getting there, and you wouldn’t probably leave there.  But you want stay a little bit longer because you’ve never seen that before.  So it’s something a little bit surprising, and scary at the same time.

INTERVIEWER
Did fire play into Dragon Island?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Well I mean usually in mythology dragons are always associated with volcanoes, fire, kind of hellish kind of locations.  So, the volcano concept came quite, you know, logically.  So the dragons are living inside the volcano.  There is a big secret as well in the volcano.  I’m not going talk about it.  But of course there are always a lot of fire interactions. 

And, for each dragon actually we develop a very specific kind of fire.  Some fires are a little bit more like liquid.  Some are a little bit more like electricity.  So we were trying to create and innovate a lot with just the fire for those different species of dragons.

INTERVIEWER
Do you deal only with the sets or with the characters?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
It’s, uh, I mean there is no real process, you know, to explain this.  It really depends the personality of everybody on the show.  I’m more of a painter, and, I’m coming from set design.  So very logically and organically we decided to separate each other a little bit, you know, in different departments.  I was supervising set.  And she was more supervising the characters and the lighting of the movie.

INTERVIEWER
Will you know when you come up with the look?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Well it’s, it needs to be almost like very simple.  You need to be able to explain what the design is going be to everybody in a few words.  Vikings were not always famous for their subtleties.  I mean at least in our movies.  They’re a bit like brutal, a bit goofy.  So the design, you don’t want it to be too sophisticated.  We always knew it would be like a little bit chunky, and a little bit silly at the same time.  

So, when that is actually clear and when you have enough drawings and paintings showing this, then you can actually create your theme.  Everybody relates to the design.  And everybody’s going to try to work in the same place.  And, that is not always easy.  But we usually have before the production starts enough time to just try to create those little rules.  So it’s our little bible.

INTERVIEWER
Is it fun for you to start a new project from scratch?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Yes, always.  It’s the best job in the world.  I mean, it goes back to when you’re a little kid.  And you’re playing with Legos or matches.  And you’re trying to create a little set for toy soldiers or something like this.  Well I was doing this when I was, a kid.  And I couldn’t have imagined back then that I would later on — way later on, still be pretty much doing the same.

INTERVIEWER
Talk to me about incorporating humor to your art.

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
I think it’s fun.  But it was the task that is required from us.  We are not doing, scary, dramatic movies.  Uh, there is still I think a tradition of cartoon in what we do even if the movies are very sophisticated.  There are a lot of special effects.  It’s just not a representation of reality.  There is still a level of caricature in this.  So everybody needs to relate to that, you know, from kids to adults.

INTERVIEWER
Is there a specific color palette?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Well, um, we established like a little fury at the beginning of this movie.  The Viking world — everybody heard about it.  We know it, those are the Nordic countries, you know, in Europe.  So it’s very cold.  It’s dramatic.  There is lava, volcano.  It’s very contrasting.  So we — we knew that the palette of the movie would be quite naturalistic.  What you’re looking at you should be able to recognize it.  A tree is a tree.  A rock is a rock.

INTERVIEWER
Talk about Berk Island.

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
So, Berk Island is, the world of the Vikings.  And we decided to make it still exciting.  A lot of funny shapes are in there.  It’s a little bit like, if you are going on vacation, you’re going to want to go in a place that is surprising to you.  All you’re going to want to see is the very weird rock, the volcano, the arch that is very unbalanced or surprising.  So if you are doing like a tour of all the national parks.
And selecting all that bits that were very surprising to you, well you combine those elements.  And there you go.  You have Berk Island.  It’s a little bit of concept.  It’s a weird place.  It’s a place that somehow you’re going be able to recognize or to relate to.  But it’s still a surprising place.

Dreamworks Animation has released a concept image from “How To Train Your Dragon.” This concept art was created by Art Director Pierre-Olivier Vincent. Pierre-Olivier had this to say about “How To Train Your Dragon,” “I hope we made it like real enough for the people to really embrace it, and believe that for maybe a little bit more than one hour or so that they’re somewhere else. That would be fantastic.”

INTERVIEWER
It’s a town.  Is it sophisticated?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Yes, but still very goofy, I mean, the Viking world is really heavily inspired by dragons.  So the houses are sophisticated in a way that the decorative elements are based on the — the dragons.  Basically you have big carved heads on top of the houses.  There are a lot of statues.  And a lot of weapons everywhere because dragons frequently attack them.  So, uh, it’s a pretty incredible place.

INTERVIEWER
Elements of dragons on the house — how does that work?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
Well, it’s a little bit interesting what happened to this, because at first, we felt that if the Vikings are constantly attacked by dragons, maybe they’re not going to have a lot of representation of dragons in the village.  And we thought that at the same time, if you go to places like Africa, you’re going to meet with some tribes where actually to become a man young, you know, kids have to go into the wild and maybe killed a lion.

And then suddenly they’re becoming the lion warrior.  So, uh, it’s pretty much the angle we took to decorate those houses.  There is houses that have like a carved head of a Gronckle for example.  Because this is the Gronckle house.  I’m a Gronckle warrior because I was about to kill a Gronckle.  And that’s a little bit of the fury of it.

INTERVIEWER
Tell me who your directors are and how their personalities work.

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENT
OK.  So, our directors are, Chris Sanders and Dean Dubois.  For the ones who remember “Lilo and Stitch”, they were the winning team at the time.  And they — they came to work with us.  And they fit really well each other.  I mean Chris has that crazy energy.  He’s very creative, very intense.  And Dean is a bit more controlled like that, very calm.  It’s always very exciting to be in meetings with them.

INTERVIEWER
Is the Viking world a new world for you?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENTWell I — I was always passionate about Viking and Celtic lore.   I mean I’m from Briton in France.  We’re Celtic people.  So we kind of relate to that a little bit.  And also in France Vikings invaded us quite often.  So we know a little bit about those guys.  At the same time, we are not doing an historical piece.  It’s still a fantasy world.  So, there are a lot of liberties.

INTERVIEWER
What do you hope audiences walk away with?

PIERRE-OLIVIER VINCENTI live in this world for more than four years.  I hope we made it like real enough for the people to really embrace it and — and believe that, for maybe a little bit more than one hour or so that they’re somewhere else.  That would be fantastic.